Jack Soo
Jack Soo in 1975.
Born	Goro Suzuki (1917-10-28)October 28, 1917 Pacific ocean (see below) (raised in Oakland, California, U.S.)
Died	January 11, 1979(1979-01-11) (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Jack Soo (October 28, 1917 – January 11, 1979) was a Japanese American actor. He is best known for his role as Detective Nick Yemana on the television sitcom Barney Miller.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Jack Soo was born Goro Suzuki on a ship traveling from the U.S. to Japan in 1917. He lived in Oakland, California, and was caught up in the Japanese American internment during World War II and sent to Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah.^[1] Fellow internees recalled him as a "camp favorite" entertainer, singing at dances and numerous events.^[2]

Soo's career as an entertainer began in earnest at the end of the war, first as a stand-up nightclub performer primarily in the Midwestern United States. It was during his years playing the nightclub circuit that he would meet and become friends with future Barney Miller producer Danny Arnold, who was also a performer at the time.^[3]

Career[link]

Jack Soo is handed a cup of tea by Nancy Kwan in the 1961film Flower Drum Song.

Soo finally earned his big break in 1958 when he was cast in the Broadway musical hit Flower Drum Song in the role of the show M.C. and comedian Frankie Wing ("Gliding through my memoree"). He was working in San Francisco in the Forbidden City nightclub, which was portrayed in the musical and movie. He was offered the chance to go to Broadway on the condition that he change his name to something Chinese, as Flower Drum Song is set in San Francisco's Chinatown. It was at that time that he adopted the surname that he had used to leave the internment camp at Topaz, "Soo."^[4] Jack switched to the Sammy Fong role (Chinatown's 'Nathan Detroit") during the run and played the role in 1961, when the film version of the musical was made.

In 1964, Soo played an important weekly supporting role as a poker-playing con artist in Valentine's Day, a one-season comedy television series starring Tony Franciosa. During the next decade, he would appear in films such The Green Berets as an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) Colonel and the 1967 musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, as well as making guest appearances on TV shows such as Hawaii Five-O, The Odd Couple, and two episodes of M*A*S*H.

Soo joined Motown Records in 1965 as one of their first non-African American artists. During his time there, he recorded a slow ballad version of For Once in My Life as the first male singer to do so. The record was, unfortunately, never released and was shelved in the Motown archives. The song was soon after made famous by Stevie Wonder.^[2][5]

Soo was cast in his most memorable role in 1975 on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller as the laid-back, but very wry, Detective Nick Yemana, who was responsible for making the dreadful coffee the entire precinct had the misfortune to drink every day.

Soo refused to play roles that were demeaning to Asian Americans and often spoke out against negative ethnic portrayals.^[6]

Death[link]

Soo was diagnosed with esophageal cancer during Barney Miller's fifth season (1978–79). The cancer spread quickly, and Soo died on January 11, 1979 at age 61. His last appearance on the show was in the episode entitled "The Vandal", which aired on November 9, 1978.

Because his character (and Soo himself) was so beloved, a special retrospective episode was made, showing clips of his best moments: it aired at the end of the season. The most poignant moment of the show came at the end, when the cast members raised their coffee cups in a final farewell toast to the late actor.

Soo's last words to his Barney Miller co-star Hal Linden before his death were: "It must have been the coffee."^[2]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• SFIAAFF 2009: YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (THE JACK SOO STORY) — Interview WithJeff Adachi
• You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story (2009)
• Jack Soo at the Internet Movie Database
• Jack Soo at Find a Grave

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

This article is about the 1971 film. For the wrestler of a similar name, see Billy Jack Haynes.

Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, the highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name,which started with the movie The Born Losers(1967)) that played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed until 1971. American International Pictures pulled out of the production, halting filming. Twentieth Century Fox came in and filming eventually resumed, but when that studio refused to distribute the film, Warner Bros. took over.

The film lacked distribution, so Laughlin took it to theatres himself in 1971.^[1] The film died at the box office in its initial run but took in more than $40 million in its 1973 re-release, which was supervised by Laughlin.

Plot[link]

Billy Jack is a "Half-breed" American Cherokee Indian, a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran, and a hapkido master. The character made his début in The Born Losers (1967), a "biker film" about a motorcycle gang terrorizing a California town. Billy Jack rises to the occasion to defeat the gang by defending a college student who has evidence against them for gang rapes.

This changes with the second film, Billy Jack, in which the hero must defend the hippie-themed Freedom School and its students from townspeople who do not understand or like the counterculture students. The school is organized by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor).

In one scene, a group of Indian children from the school go into town for ice cream and are refused service and then abused and humiliated by Bernard Posner and his gang. This prompts a violent outburst by Billy. Later, Billy's girlfriend Jean is raped and one of the Indian students is murdered by Bernard (David Roya), the corrupt son of the county's most successful (and ruthless) businessman (Bert Freed). Billy confronts Bernard and sustains a gunshot wound before killing him with a hand strike to the throat. After a climactic shootout with the police, and much pleading from Jean, he surrenders to the authorities and is arrested. As he is being driven away, a large crowd of supporters raise their fists into the air as a show of defiance and support. The plot continues in the sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack.

Box-office and critical reception[link]

Billy Jack holds a "Fresh" rating of 62% at Rotten Tomatoes.^[2]

In his Movie and Video Guide, film critic Leonard Maltin writes: "Seen today, its politics are highly questionable, and its 'message' of peace looks ridiculous, considering the amount of violence in the film."

Roger Ebert disagreed on what the message of the film was, saying "I'm also somewhat disturbed by the central theme of the movie. 'Billy Jack' seems to be saying the same thing as 'Born Losers,' that a gun is better than a constitution in the enforcement of justice."^[3]

Influence[link]

Although marketed as an action film, the story focuses on the plight of Native Americans during the civil rights movement. It attained a cult following among younger audiences due to its youth-oriented, anti-authority message combined with the then-novel martial arts fight scenes which predate the Bruce Lee/kung fu movie trend that soon followed.^[4] The centerpiece of the film features Billy Jack, enraged over the mistreatment of his Indian friends, fighting a gang of racist thugs using various hapkido techniques.

Billy Jack's wardrobe (black T-shirt, blue denim jacket, blue jeans, and a black hat with a beadwork band) would become nearly as iconic as the character. The film's theme song, "One Tin Soldier" by Coven, became a Top 40 hit in 1971, and featured the chorus:

<poem style="margin-left: 2em; font-style: italic;"> Go ahead and hate your neighbor; go ahead and cheat a friend. Do it in the name of heaven; you can justify it in the end. There won't be any trumpets blowin' come the judgment day On the bloody morning after, one tin soldier rides away </poem>

[edit] Billy Jack in popular culture

• In 1975, musician Curtis Mayfield recorded and released a song titled, "Billy Jack" on his album There's No Place Like America Today.
• In 1976 musician Paul Simon played "Billy Paul" (a parody of Billy Jack) in a sketch on the second season of the NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live, after the film Billy Jack aired earlier that same evening on NBC.
• In 1982, a professional wrestler, Billy Jack Haynes, debuted as "Billy Jack" while wearing a hat like Billy Jack. He changed his wrestling name from "Billy Jack" to "Billy Jack Haynes" after Tom Laughlin threatened to sue him.
• In the series Mystery Science Theater 3000, at least two episodes make reference to Billy Jack: on the episode Werewolf, after a fight breaks out between a racist dig supervisor and his Indian help, Tom Servo says, "This is where Billy Jack should come riding up."; on the episode Track of the Moon Beast, after the Native American professor finishes telling a story, Crow says, "Uh huh...do you know Billy Jack?"
• In an episode of The Simpsons ("Bart of War"), Bart joins a Boy Scouts of America-like group called the "Pre-Teen Braves", and they engage in a rivalry with "the Cavalry Kids". A montage of the two groups fighting each other is set to Coven's version of One Tin Soldier.
• Billy Jack is also referenced in an episode of Gilmore Girls ("Red Light on the Wedding Night") while Lorelai and Rory are watching the movie in their living room. At the line "Billy Jack, I'm gonna kill you if it's the last thing I do!", Lorelai responds, "Ugh, he so jinxed himself with that one." Rory replies, "Yeah, he should've said 'Billy Jack, I'm gonna kill you or buy myself a lovely chenille sweater.'"
• Upon first meeting serial killer Cary Stayner—then considered a possible material witness to a 1999 murder in Yosemite National Park—FBI Agent Jeff Rinek asked if Stayner had ever seen the movie Billy Jack, noting Stayner's close resemblance to the film's hero. Initially, Stayner denied ever seeing the movie.^[5] However, 90 minutes later, after building a rapport during the drive to the FBI headquarters in Sacramento from the nudist resort where he had been picked up, Stayner surprised Rinek by reciting several of Billy Jack's lines.^[6]
• In the motion picture Major Payne, Damon Wayans as the title character references the iconic fight scene quote "Now, what I'm goin' do is take this right foot and I'm 'a put it 'cross the left side your face."
• In season three of the television series Sabrina The Teenage Witch, the school principal Mr. Kraft reveals that Billy Jack is his favourite film.
• Billy Jack was referenced by Jim Carrey in Yes Man.
• Metal band Goblin Cock have a song entitled "Ode to Billy Jack" on their 2009 album Come With Me if You Want to Live, which is a tribute to him.
• In the movie Drillbit Taylor, actor Owen Wilson references Billy Jack by saying to another cast mate "I am gonna Billy Jack your ass."
• In the episode of the animated show Pinky and the Brain, titled "Brainy Jack," Brain assumes the role of the titular Brainy Jack to trick a commune of hippies into helping him take over the world. Brain's wardrobe is a direct reference to Billy Jack, especially the hat with a beaded hat-band. Likewise, the song that Pinky sings in the episode is a parody of "One Tin Soldier."
• British electro band Relaxed Muscle (fronted by Jarvis Cocker, from Pulp) released a song called "Billy Jack" on their one and only album A Heavy Nite With... in 2003. It was also released as a single with a music video that featured Cocker (as his alter ego, Darren Spooner) in Western garb reminiscent of Billy Jack's trademark outfit.
• In the book "The Berlin Blues", a play by Drew Hayden Taylor, the character named Trailer references Billy Jack when he says on page 92, "No Cirque du Billy Jack?" when the plan for Ojibway World which was supposed to be opening up on the reserve falls through.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Billy Jack, Laughlin's official Billy Jack web site
• Billy Jack at the Internet Movie Database
• The Man Who Made Billy Jack Go Berserk: A Conversation with David Roya Interview with Billy Jack co-star David "Bernard Posner" Roya
• DVD review of the Billy Jack series and production history
• A vision of American multiplicity Village Voice review August 19, 1971